title: Effects of congenital HCMV infection on synaptic plasticity in dentate gyrus (DG) of rat hippocampus.
abstract: This study was carried out to investigate whether the congenital HCMV infection affect the induction and maintenance of LTP /DP. Rat models of Sprague-Dawley rats congenitally infected by HCMV were made. Field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were recorded in the hippocampal slices of offspring rats (50-65days) to study alterations of LTP /DP in area dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus after congenital infection. The Ca(2+) and mRNA level of calmodulin (CaM) in the hippocampus neurons of the experiment group (congenital infected by HCMV) and the control group were measured;The input/output (I/O) curves of the EPSP slope PS amplitude in area DG in experiment group were significantly depressed when compared to control group (P<0.05). LTP of the EPSP slope and PS amplitude in area DG of the hippocampus was 137±4% (EPSP) and 225±11% (PS) in control rats and 115±9% (EPSP) and 163±7% (PS) in experiment rats (EPSP: F=25.29,P<0.05;PS: F=74.33 P<0.05, two-way ANOVA with Tukey test); DP of the EPSP slope and PS amplitude was 86±3% (EPSP) and 85±2% (PS) in control rats and 94±5% (EPSP) and 93±4% (PS) in congenitally infected rats (EPSP: F=5.62, P<0.05;PS: F=4.22, P<0.05, two-way ANOVA with Tukey test) . At the same time, intracellular [Ca(2+)] and mRNA level of CaM in the hippocampus neurons of the experiment group were significantly increased than that of in the controls ([Ca(2+)]: P<0.01;CaM mRNA: P<0.01) . The results demonstrate that congenital HCMV infection could reduce the range of synaptic plasticity in the Sprague-Dawley rats, which may trigger the dysfunction of learning and memory through disrupting the calcium balance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China. wude7310@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: De
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiao-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Gong-Chun
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xi-Song
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.forename: Diyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Jiu-Lai
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002147:Calmodulin / Q000378:metabolism; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000151:congenital* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000821:virology*; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D002147:Calmodulin; D002118:Calcium